Monday, 29 October 2012

Some pictures of the first metal figure which I painted a while ago. It's the European Knight / crusader in Holy Land from the Korean manufacturer 'Seil Models'. The figure is of a high quality, the fit is excellent and a piece of ground was included, all the things one expects from a high quality metal figure. A bonus was a photo etched plate the 'Crusader in Holy land 12 - 13th century'. The figure also comes with two heads, one wearing a great helmet an other without a helmet on. A separate helmet in included making this version. The only downside was that the feet of the figure didn't fall in exactly the right place on the base but this can be overcome with some putty (which I didn't use at the time)
Unfortunately Seil Models is bankrupt but Historex Agents still has a few items for sale.

'Tech tip':
I panted mine as on the box. First I primed the figure with white primer from 'games workshop' and after that painted the uniform white to get a good covering layer of paint. I masked the figure with 'magic tape':

That's right, simple tape available in good and less good office supply stores and supermarkets. The glue on this paint is not very strong making is ideal as an masking tape. It won't stretch like 'professional model makers tape' however. This can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on what you want to mask. After this I brush painted the blue area's with revell's 36154 matt 'blue'. I removed the tape when the paint was dry and sanded the upstanding paint edges that form at the side of the tape away. I repainted that area very carefully when needed. What I do now is removing the tape while the paint still dries but doesn't flow so easily anymore.
The result looks like this:

I can recommend this figure but unfortunately it is difficult if not impossible to find. Seil Models offered quite a nice range of figures with quite some of them in action full poses which I really liked, it's really to bad the company is bust. Especially since they offered a sound product of high quality.

Tuesday, 16 October 2012

Today not a tank in it's classic form but one with wings; The A-10 Thunderbolt II or "Warthog". This is an Close Air Support aircraft pretty much built around the 30mm GAU8 Avenger, a Gatling gun with 7 barrels. It also includes 540kg of armour plate and can carry a vast amount of bombs and rockets making this a flying tank.

An A-10 firering it's main gun.

The GAU 8 gun with a Volkswagen 'beetle' next too it.

In 1/144 scale 3 models are available from Dragon, Arii and Heller with Arii having the oldest model and Heller the latest. Heller's offering in available also in a Revell boxing and is more easily to get. I build the Dragon model which is available only in a box with two planes. The Dragon model is from a upgraded mold, most of the ordinance is new however.

The model is nicely detailed and the panel lines are not overdone. It also includes a full cockpit which can be difficult to install due to the fact that the front wheelbay is quite large leaving not a lot of room for the cockpit. It is recommended to put a weight in the nose to prevent the model from sitting on it's tail but there is n room for this. The space between the rear wheels and cockpit would be a better place. The weaker parts (literally and figuratively) is the landing gear but it is quite acceptable. Decals for two grey versions of the A-10 are offered but most of the markings are (in my view) generic enough to be applied on any A-10.
I painted my A-10 in an experimental camouflage colour. A few versions of this pattern in different colours where tried out:

My try:

A look at the ordinance, this machine is a kind of flying ammunition depot. The kit includes a lot of other bombs as well so an entirely other configuration can be chosen as well.

I don't know which of the A-10 models available is the best but this one certainly is very good and with the vast choice in bombs and rockets it is a bargain.